Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) Yale A2K2 Conference New Haven, USA April 27, 2007 Ram Mohan Building a Sustainable Framework For A Multilingual Internet

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Agenda Role of IDNs in Access To Knowledge Multi-lingual Internet Basics – A special case study in India Current state of Technical Readiness An IDN Policy Framework –Basics –Technical Principles –Policy Principles

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan The Language Barrier Limits Access to the Internet The language barrier limits Internet usage Domain Names are the single most important way to locate resources on the Internet 65% of the world’s Internet users don’t speak English In China, 90% of Internet users prefer to access content in their local languages 1 Software applications now integrate websites/ seamlessly 1. CNNIC Statistical Survey, 2005

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Technology can help German IDN launch IE7B1(27-July-05)IE7B3(29-Jun-06) IE7B2(24-Apr-06) Additional IDNs launch Source: PIR ICANN Reports

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Utility of IDNs Makes the Internet more friendly to non-English speakers Provides more accessibility to applications like , FTP, etc It is the most effective way to popularize the use of Internet in non-English speaking communities Guarantees cultural diversity and protects the special interests of people in different regions Allows national cultures and under-represented languages to stay alive

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Multi-lingual Internet Basics Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) –Domain names represented in characters used in local languages Allows entire domain name to be represented in a local language character set –example. 日本, or 日本. 日本 These names have to… –Work everywhere –Be backwards compatible –Not break application software –Support languages appropriately

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Access for India’s billion people Total Population billion (2001 Census) 22 Official Languages –Devanagari script based (North Indian): Hindi, Marathi, Sanskrit, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Nepali, Manipuri –Dravidian script based (South Indian): Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Konkani –Arabic Script Based: Urdu –Some Languages representable in more than one script –Other script basis: Bengali, Oriya, Gujarati, Punjabi, Assamese Worldwide Audience: –Hindi Million Speakers –Bengali Million Speakers –Tamil - 60 Million Speakers –Telugu - 70 Million Speakers Movies released in 15 languages Schools teach in 58 different languages Radio programs broadcast in 71 languages Newspapers publish in 87 languages And … one Internet

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Building Indian IDNs China has 1.6 billion Chinese language speakers … with two major scripts and shared characters with Japanese & Korean language communities About 12 Indian languages are based on Devanagari scripts … leading to potential variant issues A “many-to-many” problem for India –Multiple languages share common scripts –Multiple scripts used in multiple languages Other Challenges: –Bi-directional text –Multiple diacentric positioning –Word Breaking

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Adequate Standards Exist IETF Open Standards published : –RFC 3490, 3491, 3492 –RFC 3454 –RFC 3743 ICANN IDN Guidelines China-Japan-Korea (CJK) common CDNC language tables provide an example of how to build community support Indic Scripts – standards creation effort provides new learning Successful root server tests for IDNs at the top level in Dec 2006 Much of the “technology” & “protocol” part of internationalizing domain names is complete

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Domain Name Technical Constraints Must be considered Normal Unicode-Punycode conversion –flod18häst .xn--flod18hst-12a Performance with a 63-character long TLD string –.hippo18potamushippo18potamushippo18potamushippo 18po Right to left, embedded characters with opposing directional properties Left to right script with sophisticated shaping properties Non-alphabetic script

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Introducing an IDN Policy Framework Provides clarity to IDN issues Ensures that registries give due consideration to key elements of IDN policies Allow governments or other authorities to follow / evaluate the process for IDN deployment at the ccTLD –Involvement of government / authorities at different stages of process (e.g. List of Valid Characters, Contextual Rules, Variants) Provides language communities, civil society, businesses input into policy creation prior to rollout IDN Policies & Registry System –Policy decisions may have profound technical implications to registry system

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Founding technical principles in IDN implementation Build Character Inclusion Table (List of valid characters)... governments, linguists, technologists needed Variant Mapping Consideration …allow only one form of character set for IDN Contextual Rules –Minimum & Maximum Length –Prohibited prefixes or suffixes –Potential contextual rules: prohibited character sequences Register and operate the Internationalized TLD in the root DNS Server in the form of IDNA Punycode

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Founding policy principles in IDN implementation 1.Avoid ASCII-Squatting 2.Consult with government for Geo-political Impact of new top level domain 3.Actively solicit Language Community Input for evaluation of new IDN gTLD Strings 4.One String per new IDN gTLD 5.Limit Variant Confusion and Collision 6.Limit Confusingly Similar Strings

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan Founding policy principles (cont.) 7.(No) Priority Rights for new gTLD strings and new domain names 8.Approach Aliasing as a Policy matter 9.Adhere to a Single Script (ASCII exception, other restrictions) 10.UDRP sufficient for dispute resolution in new IDN TLDs

April 27, 2007Yale Access 2 Knowledge Conference Ram Mohan General IDN TLD Rollout Principles Retain global uniqueness of the TLD system –Domain names remain unique and unambiguous Maintain interoperability of the TLD system –Domain names work the same way regardless of the geography it is accessed in –. भारत needs to point applications and users to the same place regardless of accessing the domain from India, UK or Greece Promote “Future-Proof” solutions –Define Unicode characters to be allowed –Provides ability for adding new languages, new characters far in the future Avoid User Confusion Promote multi-stakeholder involvement

Let’s make it happen Ram Mohan Building a Sustainable Framework For A Multilingual Internet